Saving Seafood

ROBERT KEHOE: Commercial fishermen need relief from Chinese tariffs

July 24, 2019 — American businesses are being hit hard by retaliatory tariffs imposed by China on U.S. goods in response to the Trump administration’s trade policies. Commercial fisheries are no exception.

The Purse Seine Vessel Owners’ Association represents the interests of the “small boat” commercial fishing fleet. It represents some 290 vessel owners, about half of whom are based in Washington state with about two dozen from Seattle.

While the association is based in Seattle, which is the home of the North Pacific commercial fishing fleet and several large seafood processing companies, a large majority of members make their living harvesting wild-caught and sustainably managed salmon in Alaska.

Ultimately, what members want to see is a return to fair and open trade practices with our global trade partners, especially China, so that hard working, commercial fishing family-owned businesses can continue to earn a modest living supplying consumers with wild Alaska salmon. China is the largest of Alaska’s seafood export markets.

Read the full story at Seattle Times

ALASKA: Southeast purse seiners to hold another permit buyback vote

January 10, 2019 — Southeast Alaska purse seine fishermen are preparing to vote on another permit buyback, with an eye toward making the fishery more viable in an era of more efficient vessels and smaller salmon runs.

The National Marine Fisheries Service is scheduled to send out ballots to fishermen starting Jan. 15 asking whether the fleet should take on $10.1 million in federal loans to buy out 36 permits, removing them from the fishery forever. If successful, the move would reduce the number of permits in the fishery to 279, down about 100 permits since 2012.

Like many things in the U.S. right now, the vote may be delayed as a consequence of the ongoing federal shutdown because most NMFS employees are on furlough. Pending the resolution of the budget battles in Congress, proponents of the buyback are hoping to get the ball rolling soon.

This would be the second buyback since the loan program was authorized by Congress in 2006, and so far, it’s been successful from the perspective of the fleet, said Bob Kehoe, the executive director of the Purse Seine Vessel Owners Association.

“I think it’s been successful; we’ve removed permits,” he said. “We’ve been able to generate more than enough revenue to service the loan. The service rate has been decreased.”

The purse seine permit buyback program in Southeast is something of an outlier; it’s a federally authorized loan program to buy back state-issued fishery permits.

Read the full story at the Alaska Journal of Commerce